Harvard Heavyweight Eights Through to IRA Semis, Open Four to Grand

The second varsity posted the widest winning margin in any eights race Thursday morning.

Jun 02, 2011

CAMDEN, N.J.—A winning morning led to an afternoon off for the Harvard heavyweight eights on the first day of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships Thursday afternoon on the Cooper River.

The Crimson's unbeaten varsity, second varsity and freshman eights won their morning heats to advance directly to Friday's semifinals, avoiding the repechages on Thursday afternoon. The open four also won its heat to clinch a spot in Saturday's grand final. All of the morning races were held in difficult conditions caused by a strong tailwind.

Harvard and Princeton were the fastest crews early on in the Crimson's varsity heat. Harvard built a four-seat edge on the field through 750 meters, pulled away in the third 500 meters and held a boat-length advantage through the final 500 meters. The Crimson's time of 5:33.357 was 1.4 seconds faster than the runner-up Tigers'. Each of the top six seeds in the varsity event advanced straight to the semifinals, as Washington, California, Wisconsin and Brown joined Harvard and Princeton in advancing.

"We were very focused on getting through the heat, ideally winning the heat, which we managed to do," said varsity coxswain Chris Kingston. Regarding the transition from the four-mile distance of last weekend's Harvard-Yale race back to the 2,000-meter sprint, he added, "We're feeling really comfortable again. There were a few things that we wanted to focus on that we learned last year, and I think we've done really well."

Yale held a two-seat lead through 500 meters of Harvard's second varsity heat, but the Crimson edged ahead in the second 500 to take a four-seat edge to the race's midpoint. That lead was nearing seven seats with 750 to go, when the Bulldogs, locked in a tight race for second with Syracuse and Dartmouth, were the victim a damaged boat. Harvard had an open-water advantage on Orange by that point and went on to win by nearly five seconds in 5:44.671.

The Crimson freshmen won their heat by 2.6 seconds in 5:38.791, while Navy edged Brown by five-hundredths of a second for the second semifinal berth. Harvard led by nearly a boat length through 1,000 meters and maintained its advantage as the Midshipmen and Bears battled to the finish.

In the open four, Harvard trailed in the early going but pushed through the Bulldogs and went on to win by four seconds, claiming the heat's only berth in the grand final. The Crimson finished in 6:24.067.

The varsity four placed fifth in its heat in 6:32.822 and fourth in its afternoon repechage in 6:29.935 and will race in Saturday's third-level final.